Just as in the other Grupo Algar companies, all Algar Telecom’s professionals are called “associates”. The meaning of the word reflects the “Network Company” concept adopted by the Company. This model promotes commitment and autonomy with responsibility. As a result, associates are allowed to participate in the corporate decision-making process, thus providing top-quality services for clients.
Recognizing the importance of each professional for the sustainable growth of the business implies taking on a commitment to people’s education and life quality, as well as their human and professional development. Based on its values and beliefs, the Company adopts a Human Talents policy that includes professional training and a pleasant work climate, as well as attractive compensation and career building policies, so that associates are proud and feel motivated to be a part of Algar Telecom.
In keeping with the Company’s Vision – People serving People –, our effort to value human talents was recognized once more in 2011. Algar Telecom and its subsidiary Algar Mídia were ranked among the Best Companies to Work in Brazil in 2011.
Associates' Profile
Full-Time Associates
Number of Associates
| Permanent or Indefinite-Term Employment | Temporary or Fixed-Term Employment | Indefinite or Fixed-Term Contract |
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APart-Time Associates
Number of Associates
| Permanent or Indefinite-Term Employment | Temporary or Fixed-Term Employment | Indefinite- or Fixed-Term Contract |
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Employed Associates
Associates by Age Group
Associates by Gender
Contracted Associates
Associates by Age Group
Associates by Gender
Between 2009 and 2011, the Company did not contract any full or part-time independent associates on a permanent basis. The Company has no data for the total number of associates by region.
Telecom
This segment, which encompasses fixed-line phone, mobile phone, broadband, data and TV services, had 1,634 associates at the close of 2011. Year-over-year, there was a 6.5% increase resulting from a business expansion, mainly in the authorization area, where the demand for services in the corporate market has been rising quickly. Another reason for the increase in headcount was the expansion of retail services in the Band H area, which reached nineteen towns in the first year. In the Telecom, 72.3% of the professionals have a college degree and 25.1% have a graduate degree. These figures account for the team’s technical expertise. At present, 56.4% of the positions are held by men while women comprise 43.6% of the structure. The segment also has many independent contractors. In other words, this segment also uses the services of Engeset and Algar Tecnologia to achieve its goals since it is part of a complete, integrated company.
Business Process and Technology Outsourcing Services
The number of professionals in this segment stood at 10,913 at the close of 2011 against 10,217 associates in 2010. Even though it did not grow sharply, 8,882 new associates were hired due to the usual turnover in the call center business. Other features of this activity are also found in our business process and technology outsourcing services segment: 79.4% of the associates have operating positions, 49.9% are young people between ages 18 and 25, and 14.7% have had their first job with Algar Tecnologia.
Complementary Businesses
Engeset-Engenharia de Redes e Telecomunicações hired 1,385 talents, 420 more than in the previous year, closing 2011 with 2,193 associates. It is Algar Telecom’s segments that has grown the most (29.3% when compared with the 1,696 associates recorded in 2010). These new professionals were hired to serve new clients and to support Expansão Minas. The nature of the business-telecommunications infrastructure-explains the higher concentration of males, who account for 88.5% of all associates. In turn, women comprise 65.3% of the associates in the Directories and Guides segment (Algar Mídia), which employed 320 professionals at the close of 2011.
Algar Telecom has a policy of hiring people with special needs for all its segments. At call centers, for example, there are visually-impaired people working as masseurs, hired for initiatives focusing on associates’ well-being.
Relationship with Internal Stakeholders
Training
| Segment | Amount invested (in R$ thousand) |
Class/hours | Amount invested per associate (in R$) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Telecom | 3,550.0 | 82,676 | 2,172.59 |
| Business Process and IT Outsourcing | 7,655.1 | 286,104 | 701.47 |
| Telecom Engineering | 703.7 | 56,172 | 320.87 |
| Directories and Guides | 298.4 | 4,657 | 932.66 |
| Consolidated Total | 12, 207,3 | 429,609 | 810.58 |
In line with its policy of valuing the Company’s talents, Algar Telecom increases the number of hours and amount of funds allocated to training programs every year. A total of R$ 12.2 million and 429,600 class/hours were invested in 2011. These figures include all the Company’s segments – Telecom, business process and technology outsourcing services and complementary businesses – and correspond to an average investment of R$ 810.58 per associate. In the Telecom segment alone, the average investment per associate came to R$ 2,172.59.
UniAlgar is in charge of many of the training programs whereas specific courses are held elsewhere. Knowledge management is also done internally through knowledge sharing – in fact, there is a formally structured policy encouraging associates themselves to share knowledge with co-workers. The group’s corporate university was created in 1988 to help develop Algar companies’ human talents and, consequently, drive the whole group’s sustainable growth. In addition to live training programs, the corporate university offers online courses, chat rooms, discussion forums, content websites and a social network to promote learning.
UniAlgar also participates actively in the development and introduction of different job training programs, also for new associates. In 2011, for example, it partnered with Algar Telecom to train 67 associates and 131 partners who started working on Expansão Minas, the Band H expansion plan that took the Company’s service to 19 towns in the State of Minas Gerais in its first stage. The activities included the “Jeito Algar de Ser” ([The Algar Way) and “Vender, Ofertas e Varejo” (Sales, Offers and Retail) courses. Also in 2011, UniAlgar introduced Academia de Vendas (Sales Academy), a program conceived in 2010 to perform knowledge management in the commercial area and develop the sales forces of all Grupo Algar companies.
In 2011, UniAlgar also developed the Jovem Empreendedor (Young Entrepreneur) program. It is a trainee program for the whole Grupo Algar to attract, develop and retain young talents to work for the group’s different businesses later. About 3,000 recent graduates signed up and, after a selection process, the first 30 Algar Telecom trainees are going to take their positions in 2012.
Algar Telecom also offers education and development opportunities externally, funded through the Educational Benefit program. Managed by the Associates’ Committee, the program offers reimbursement of up to 50% of the monthly tuition for undergraduate, graduate, MBA and master’s programs.
Health and Well-Being
Algar Telecom has a multidisciplinary team consisting of a doctor, a nurse, a safety technician and a safety engineer; in addition, it develops a series of specific initiatives within the Life Quality Program. Workplace exercise programs and in-company massage facilities are some of the initiatives to promote associates’ well-being and life quality.
Algar Telecom also offers executives Plano de Desenvolvimento Individualizado da Saúde ( PDI da Saúde) (Individual Health Development Plan). After undergoing check-ups for clinical, physical and nutritional conditions, these professionals start receiving advice and motivation to adopt healthy habits to fight sedentary lifestyles, obesity, stress and other problems that affect life quality. Those who achieve their goals get points in their career plans, which are used to calculate annual bonuses, so that they feel even more motivated. Regular evaluations attest to the positive results of the program year after year. At the close of 2011, 70% of the Company’s executives were considered to have an active lifestyle. In contrast, that figure stood at 34% in 2002, when the program was introduced. In view of these results, Grupo Algar has decided to extend the program to all associates as of 2012.
Another initiative geared to associates’ well-being and satisfaction is the introduction of flexitime and telecommuting whenever the position permits. At present, 16% of Algar Telecom’s associates work from home.
| Rates of injury, occupational diseases, lost days and absenteeism, and total number of work-related fatalities(*) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | |
| Total workforce (employees + contractors) | 9,637 | 12,212 | 12,781 |
| Injuries | |||
| Injury Rate (IR) | 0.12% | 0.06% | 0.06% |
| Number of injuries | 12 | 7 | 8 |
| Occupational Diseases | |||
| Occupational Disease Rate (ODR) | 1.26% | 1.11% | 0.77% |
| Number of occupational diseases | 121 | 136 | 98 |
| Lost days | |||
| Lost Day Rate (LDR) | ND | ND | ND |
| Number of lost days | ND | ND | ND |
| Absenteeism | |||
| Absentee Rate (AR) | ND | ND | ND |
| Scheduled work days | ND | ND | ND |
| Fatalities | |||
| Number of fatalities(*) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
As far as occupational safety is concerned, the Company’s initiatives have been leading to a sharp decrease in the number of occupational diseases. In 2011, 98 cases were recorded, which corresponds to a 0.77% Occupational Disease Rate (ODR). In contrast, there were 136 cases in 2010, a 1.11% ODR. Concerning injuries, there were 8 cases in 2011 and 7 in the previous year, which means that the Injury Rate (IR) remained flat at 0.06%. The data above do not include the Engeset figures.
Algar Telecom does not consider in IR and ODR calculation independent contractors responsible for the installation and maintenance of antennas, base stations and other facilities. In this case, the Company’s policy is to require that service providers require their employees to use safety equipment, undergo medical examinations and have proof of completion of the “Height Work Safety Training Course” pursuant to NR 18. Workplaces are visited and audited to ensure compliance with these requirements.
Algar Telecom’s goal for 2012 is to have no accidents in its facilities.
Career Building
Recognized as one of the best companies to work in Brazil, Algar Telecom adopts special human capital management practices. Essential in the competitive labor market, attracting and retaining people is one of the main concerns of the Human Talents department. The Company invests in ways to attract talents, like a fair, merit-based compensation policy and a transparent career plan, which allows associates to fulfill their growth potentials and be aware of the targets that they have to achieve in order to attain their goals. The purpose is to ensure a high satisfaction rate, which stood at 70% according to the 2011 work climate survey.
The Company has a good relationship with unions – in 2011, 99.2% of the associates were benefited by collective bargaining agreements. Professionals in management positions were not benefited because they have specific compensation policies. In April 2011, Algar Telecom’s profit-based bonus payments – corresponding to the 2010 earnings – totaled R$ 14.6 million. This is the first year that bonus payments have followed the new policy, which increased profit-sharing amounts. All associates received bonuses.
Performance assessment – which all associates undergo at least once a year – is an integral part of the Company’s career plan and is intended to offer associates a more objective development plan. In 2009 and 2010, the percentage of associates that underwent performance assessment was 91% and 97%, respectively. In 2011, that figure stood at 73%, which did not include the associates of Algar Telecom and Engeset, whose assessment programs are going to be concluded in February 2012. The goal is for 100% of the associates to be assessed in 2012.
Another key point of the Company’s Human Talents policy is valuing its human capital by seeking skilled people among its own associates to take new positions before announcing them to the market. In parallel, Algar Telecom participates actively in the professional development of the team by offering a well-structured talent development program through UniAlgar. In 2011, 3,227 associates were promoted at the Company, 196 of whom in the Telecom segment, 2,600 in the business process and technology outsourcing services segment and 431 in Complementary Businesses.
In addition to motivating associates, this people policy helps the Company tackle one of the major challenges for telecom companies, which is a shortage of skilled labor. By offering growth opportunities, Algar Telecom boosts talent attraction and retention, which greatly helps reduce turnover and, consequently, the high labor costs impacting the financial results. Turnover in the Telecom segment stood at 17% in 2011. In turn, turnover at Algar Tecnologia, which is higher due to the call center business, was 83.76%. In contrast, these figures much lower in Complementary businesses: 3.3% at Engeset and 23.8% at Algar Mídia. The consolidated turnover stood at 62.5%, impacted by the call center business. Algar has no data for turnover by region.
| Associates – 12/31/2011 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Permanent or indefinite-term employment | Temporary or fixed-term employment | |||
| number of Separations | % | number of Separations | % | |
| By gender | ||||
| Male | 2 ,609.0 | 17.3% | 4 | 0.0% |
| Female | 6 ,806.0 | 45.2% | 8 | 0.1% |
| Total | 9,415.0 | 62.5% | 12 | 0.1% |
| By Age | ||||
| >50 | 154.0 | 1.0% | 0 | 0.0% |
| 30 to 50 | 2,274.0 | 15.1% | 4 | 0.0% |
| < 30 | 6,987.0 | 46.4% | 8 | 0.1% |
| Total | 9,415.0 | 62.5% | 12 | 0.1% |
Algar Telecom and its subsidiary Algar Tecnologia also develop different initiatives to ensure associates’ long-term employability and help them plan for retirement. Algar Telecom has severance packages that take into consideration an associate’s age and length of service and include access to employment services. Algar Tecnologia, in turn, offers post-retirement planning programs – as well as job training programs to those who want to continue working –, in addition to assistance during the transition to retirement.
Human Rights
The Company is against any kind of discrimination and adopts all applicable measures to prevent this type of conduct in its business. Only Algar Tecnologia, which provides contact center services among others, recorded discrimination charges in 2011. The Ombudsman’s Office and the Fale com a Diretoria (Talk to the Executive Board) communication channel received a total of thirty charges, not a high number considering the number of associates. To prevent these situations from reoccurring, all the cases were investigated and gave rise to corrective actions through personalized plans conducted by the Ombudsman’s Office jointly with the head of the Human Talents Department.
Since its inception in 1994, Algar Tecnologia’s Ombudsman’s Office has received, recorded and examined over 16,000 complaints, charges and criticisms, related not only to discrimination, but also to several issues relevant to associates. With a workflow that allows listening to internal stakeholders, investigating their claims and recommending improvements in processes, procedures and leadership development, the Ombudsman’s Office has made many contributions to Algar Tecnologia and its associates. Its permanent goal is to decrease the number of complaints to unions, the Ministry of Labor and consumer protection bureaus, as well as postings on social networks, by fostering an environment that makes associates feel valued and proud to belong to the Company.
Also concerning Human Rights, the Code of Conduct for all Grupo Algar’s companies establishes that no partners or suppliers that use slave or child labor are accepted. Algar Telecom recorded no incidents of child labor in 2011.